(Originally posted on 4/13/17.) I’ve always loved going on road trips. From making periodic jaunts from Michigan to visit family in rural Ohio during childhood, to early-adulthood treks between college and my parents’ house, through present day, there has always been something so alluring about being on the road and going somewhere in a car. It was on many miles and stretches of interstate where my love of cars was solidified, as I learned to identify makes, models, and often model years – making mistakes and correcting them, and daydreaming about what it would be like when I was, myself, was old enough to drive. I’d also wonder about the lives of the families and individuals inside the cars we’d pass.

Family dynamics also seemed to change a bit while on such journeys. Being in such close proximity to one another also seemed both to promote kinder interactions between my two brothers and me, and keep us from causing a ruckus. Sure, we’d goof off, but we almost never fought in that back seat – that is, once the tension of which two of three got a window seat had subsided. When a hotel stay was needed, it was never at a nice chain. My parents’ frugality dictated we would usually end up at one of the less-seedy looking motels at the exit at which Dad chose to stop. Though Mom and Dad never knowingly put us in danger, a stay at a Holiday Inn would have been a pipe dream for us kids.

I was on a drive back to Chicago from Ohio about five years back when I spotted our featured car off an exit ramp in Indiana while gassing up. Ever ready with my camera (which is usually on the floor behind the driver’s seat), I try to pad my trips with a little extra time in the event I spot something cool. “Cool blue” is exactly how I’d describe the color of the finish on this fine, Lincoln personal luxury coupe. I can’t vouch for it being a ’77 model, as I was unable to confirm in my research by the paint color and wheel cover design that it wasn’t a ’78 or a ’79.

What I do know is that this is my all-time favorite iteration of the Continental Mark series. Chief designer Don De La Rossa and his team positively nailed the new, linear, late-70’s look of luxury these cars embodied. Long, low and indulgent, yet taut and tight, its styling was just the right amount of excess, and very tastefully executed. Standard power for ’77 came from Ford’s 179-horse 400-c.i. big block V8, with a 208-hp 460 as an option. With curb weight starting around 4,600 pounds, the extra 29 horses would have been money well spent.

These cars weren’t fast (0-60 came in about 13 seconds) and were super thirsty (probably about as many miles per gallon on the highway, on a good day), but it’s just this kind of car that would have inspired awe and more than a touch of envy if spotted in traffic on the expressway from my parents’ lowly ’77 Plymouth Volaré. Sales were solid throughout the Mark V’s three-year run, with 80,000 sold for ’77, with an additional 73,000 and 76,000 for ’78 and ’79, respectively.

As I was photographing this Mark V, something in the distance near the exit ramp caught my eye. It was a giant, hulking structure that looked like a hotel, but even from a distance, it eerily seemed devoid of any lights, signs, traffic, or life. As I pulled away from the gas station and toward this building, the more it became apparent that it was an abandoned motel. Common Sense Joe normally rules my life and makes all the important decisions, most of the time. Adventurous Joe, with all the raw emotion and bravura in the world, sometimes makes an executive decision and overrides CSJ. In my mind and in the moment, I might have been thinking something like, “I’m here, and I don’t know when I’m going to be passing by this way again. I’m not actually going to trespass… just get a few snaps and get back on the road.”

This old hotel was a Days Inn when it had closed, judging from the logo on the sign facing I-65 that was ominously painted over. Doing a bit of research, I learned that it had originally opened as a fancy Holiday Inn back in 1972. This complex was enormous, and didn’t look nearly old enough to be in this condition. The 70’s-era, brick-and-mansard roof architecture of its entrance and port cochére looked much nicer than many placed I’ve slept, and this once-beautiful property was, at one time, way further up the chain than anything the Dennis family would have stayed in when I was growing up.

Lost in my thoughts, imagination, and taking pictures, I heard the low rumble of tires on gravel coming to a crescendo, and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Slowly approaching was a white, late-model Dodge Charger with blue graphics and a light bar on top (Indiana Highway Patrol), inching up the abandoned motel’s service drive toward where I had parked my rental car. I just froze and suddenly felt nothing but the pounding of my frantically beating heart.

“Good afternoon, Officer,” I stammered, trying to project the fact that I hadn’t actually trespassed (and had no intention of doing so). “Hello… What brings you here?”, he responded. I explained that I was passing through, had seen this motel from the gas station, was intrigued, and had wanted to get a few pictures. He calmly, nicely said he had figured all was alright as soon as he saw my camera… and also that I should be on my way pretty soon. “I’m waaaaaay ahead of you,” Common Sense Joe blurted out in my head, as I managed a “Yes, Sir,” and fired up the engine.

As for the Holiday Inn itself, has there ever been an icon of the American road that embodied the adventurous, car travel culture of that mid-century period between the 1950’s and the 70’s as well as its “Great Sign”? Yes… that is actually what the towering, five-story, neon-and-bulb lit, cursive script font beauty was called. These signs would all but disappear after ’82, when the Great Sign was replaced by something squared-off and generic that was, well, square. Even Holiday Inn founder Kemmons Wilson, in his retirement, lamented the company’s decision to do away with these sparkling beauties.

As our featured car relates to the Holiday Inn, they were both charming reminders of the times of taking road trips with my family as a young kid – days when I just couldn’t absorb enough new information, sights, and sounds. This was a time when I would entertain myself on long car rides – not with electronics, but with conversation, music, and most memorably, by looking out the window, taking it all in, lost in my own thoughts… as I am now. Perhaps another road trip should be in my near future.

Randy, I have always loved old signs – so cool that you’re in that industry. So many classic designs (the “Union 76” revolving ball, the giant “Arby’s” ten-gallon hat) I remember are being, or have been, replaced by ones that are decided less memorable.

I usually take an annual trip to Las Vegas, and part of what I enjoy is looking at all the classic, vintage signage. Hopefully, this year, I’ll be able to tour the Neon Boneyard.

On the subject of these signs (and motels..) The “Quality Courts” sign with the animated “sunburst” at the North Versailles (PA) end of the Geo. Westinghouse Bridge was a visual (if not technical) sign of the “border” between “Pittsburgh” and “McKeesport” to me as a kid. ?! I luved that thing! The “Great Valley ” shopping center sign was closer to the classic “mid century” design,with it’s huge arrow. ….And there was the Ardmore Drive In sign (also on US 30),.closer to Wilkinsburg,. dammit….here I go again ??? Around Pittsburgh: Brentwood,Pa still HAD an Arby’s ten gallon hat until about five years ago, It’s gone now ?, Then again Brentwood has demolished the Point Veiw Hotel (Significant role in the Underground Railroad..) and the Davis farmhouse (one of the oldest homes on the Brownsville Road) since 2000, So history be damned, I guess….???

The Laurel, MD Arby’s on Rt. 1 (Baltimore Ave.) still has the huge old neon Arby’s sign from the ’50s or ’60s, as does the nearby Giant Food grocery store. There’s a Tastee-Freez or something that used to be one of the old red and white striped McDonalds and if you drive around back you can still see those bricks in the original colors.

I stayed at some of the Holiday Inns in the ’70s when those awesome signs were still there. That they replaced these iconic signs (widely regarded as a major reason the chain rose to the top of the motel world) with the utterly forgettable fluorescent-backlit generic signs they use now is a travesty. The high cost of all those light bulbs and neon tubes was given as one reason they were abandoned, but with modern high-efficiency LEDs they could be inexpensive to operate.

Guests who stay at today’s Holiday Inns often remark to the people who work there that they should bring back the old signs.

About the Mark V, I think I read a comment on an earlier CC post that chief designer De La Rossa had followed Iacocca over to Chrysler, which might explain why the 2nd generation Cordoba shared a few, visual similarities to these. Both are handsome designs, IMO.

I consider the Mark VI, the model that followed this one, as the “best of the bunch”.

The Mark VI series kept all of the important, recognizable exterior & interior styling cues of the previous Marks, but downsized into a lighter, smaller exterior package with little loss in interior size or comfort. A car that was much easier to drive in traffic than the previous models!

The challenge, for me anyway, with the Mark VI was that it did reuse the Mark V cues so literally. Today, when I see a picture of a Mark VI my brain thinks it is a Mark V, and it doesn’t look too bad.

The problem in 1980 was that the Mark VI looked like the Picasso edition of the Mark V. So familiar, yet so wrong. A Mark V body put in a hot dryer to fit on the Panther platform. That, and the look was tired. A design from the fall of 1976, and they planned to be still building it in 1983 or even later? As a flagship luxury car?

Cadillac got the heritage cues on their ’79 Eldorado right. It looked like an Eldorado, but no one today will confuse it with a ’78 Eldorado. In fact, channeling the ’67 Eldorado to a degree, it predicted rather nicely the return to the more formal and dressier looks that people and things had in the 1980s.

In my past life as a photographer, I got caught trespassing multiple times (usually just talked to and told to leave, never actually arrested or anything) so I know that “Oh no, here come the cops!” feeling well… Fun fact: in WI, the “no trespassing” sign doesn’t actually need to be posted, if the landowner can say there WAS one in the last 6 months…

Great article and photos Joseph. Always enjoy when you reminisce, with so many details.

Growing up, I wasn’t a big fan of the Mark V. I felt with the crisper, more modern styling, Ford was legitimizing the already out of step with the times Mark IV. Similar to how the oversized and overstyled Gran Torino was legitimized with a cleaner body in the LTD II. They were still too big and inefficient for the times.

The Dusenburg SJ was also “too big” and “too inefficient” during the Great Depression, But it’s a classic​ BECAUSE of it. It was a hell of a machine that HAD NO BUSINESS existing at the time it did. But people love it anyway…. And similarly I don’t think your average Mark V gave a damn about “economy” or “efficiency”. And that’s why this car is cool. End of rant..?

As I mentioned, my POV was from a young teen in 1977. Wasn’t impressed at the time. Cars aren’t manufactured for their potential ‘classic’ status 40 years later. To my eyes then, the large car downsizing GM was already starting made these look like dinosaurs. 🙂

Almost every “CC” worthy car I’ve owned has been a GM “B” or “C” body (1950 Buick Super to 1989 Cadillac Brougham) with a few ?! being a 77+”C” variant, I absolutely agree with you that the ’77-84 GM B/C variants were above the state of the art in the era, But I felt a need to defend the Mark V for being the best of it’s breed. The same way, I feel the Corvair was a better car than the overrated VW Type 1 (or “Beetle”), Some cars need recognition even if they lack “Collector Cool” or something that broke new ground, I’m not a FoMoCo guy, But I have to give this model it’s due for what it is AND was..YMMV! ??

Daniel M.

Posted April 14, 2017 at 12:58 AM

Totally understand. Being a kid then, I didn’t fully appreciate the large costs of engineering ‘downsized’ cars. So, I wasn’t impressed that Ford would go to the expense of making cars like the Mark IV and Gran Torino look more up-to-date, while retaining much of the same girth. It seemed deceptive to me at the time. 🙂

James Slick

Posted April 14, 2017 at 1:38 AM

I was just driving age then, I wasn’t​ looking at anything new to buy (natch!?), But I get what you’re saying, Especially with the remuddled Torino (LTD II)! But then again the new for ’77 Elite….,Er, I mean Thunderbird sold like hell! (That’s the one I really wasn’t impressed with!) OTOH, the Connie and Mark were not “repurposed” (Yet), They were 1972 full-sized “dinosaurs” unapologetically. and for that I’m glad they were. Like the 1959 Cadillac, they represent what was, and ended the decade with a symbolic gesture. GMs B/Cs (and later As) were “the Future” in 1977 the Mark V, and the Cordoba, ETC were the “Now”! Dammit, is it to early to blast some Ramones or Clash….(Sorry, had a 1979 moment there!??)?

As a child I don’t think my family ever spent a night in a Holiday Inn, either. We did occasionally spend a night or two at a Howard Johnson’s. Speaking of H-J, in the last 6 years I have only seen 2 or 3…1 in St. Augustine and the other in Virginia along I-81, and a possible 3rd somewhere on the east coast. Unfortunately, the H-J in Virginia after years of appearing habitable, but never having any visible guests, was torn down to make way for a parking lot.

I’m with the minority here, I prefer the Mark VI. The Mark V looks like it’s been made longer just for the sake of being long. It’s like a bride who insists on an impossibly long train and veil on her wedding gown…just because. The Mark VI looks like a more sensible choice. The wedding gown a bride can actually walk and dance in.

You hit a nerve with this one Joseph. To this day I enjoy a drive or ride in any car as much as when I was a kid.

Our experiences are similar. Motel 6 or bust. A Holiday Inn was for the upper crust. Thousands of miles logged on Rt 66 and others being relocated across the country for my Dad’s job and in the summer his two week vacations spent visiting family.

One summer saw 7000 miles put on in that period.

My folks argued for years about which one of them picked the “Avoca Inn” in Avoca IA one year. Definitely Bates Motel grade.

The old road signs were a treat as well. When I was a kid I was ticked off when Lady Bird Johnson went on her “Keep America Beautiful” kick which resulted in billboards coming down on the big highways. They were part of the entertainment.

The abandoned motel would have been on my radar as well. They always leave a question mark.

Your shots of the motel upstaged the Lincoln. That era Mark was always way too big. The 68 Mark III was the one that defined the “ultimate Mark” for me. Anything that followed just didn’t make the grade, though this one comes close.

Sort of like the transition from the 61-65 Continental and the 66-69. The original was just so “right” the follow up was a disappointment and just “moar” of everything.

DweezilAZ, it has been comforting to read how others like you stayed in the same kinds of places as I did with my family. These days, if I have no fear of bedbugs and am on actual vacation (versus business travel), I actually prefer the vintage Americana of smaller places with character like your grandmother’s motel in Sacramento. (I like that picture you posted below, too, by the way.)

Joe, you evoked the allure of the road trip perfectly.
I spent my childhood running up and down I95 between Philly and Providence in the 60s and 70s, with yearly forays up to Maine and occasional ones elsewhere. In 1978 we did a 7000 mile pilgrimage across the country and back. The time with family on that trip got my teenaged head screwed on straight – it literally changed my life.

” I’d also wonder about the lives of the families and individuals inside the cars we’d pass.” I still do this – I always thought it was just me…

That’s awesome, Craig – great minds. I remember sometimes locking eyes with other kid passengers of other cars for a split second, and wondering what the conversation in their car was at that moment.

One thing I realize about being the driver (and sole occupant) of a car on a solo road trip is that I get to observe so much less than when I’m a passenger. There’s a tradeoff. By yourself, you don’t get to see as much, but in a car with others, one has to contribute to conversation. Being the natural introvert that I am, and depending on the conversation, sometimes I just don’t feel like doing that kind of “work” – preferring just to look out the window. LOL

I have a fond memory of Holiday Inn. In 1979, I took my mother back to her home town for a nostalgic visit. I’d made reservations at the once grand local hotel that she remembered from her youth. When we arrived, it was a dump. I took her by the arm and escorted her right back out, wondering what the hell to do. Off in the distance I saw a Holiday Inn sign, and we headed on over. The Inn was new, the staff was gracious and the rooms very comfortable. Our bacon was saved, and we had a memorably pleasant stay. I just hope someone came back soon for that Lincoln and saved it. That beauty was much too nice to languish in a forgotten parking lot.

ArBee, I have a special love for grand, old hotels. That’s cool that your mother wanted to stay there, but a shame it had deteriorated by the late 70’s. There used to be a giant resort hotel in my Chicago neighborhood of Edgewater that had deteriorated from being a truly posh destination, to being demolished by 1970. (The accompanying apartment building, converted to co-ops, is still standing.)

On business travel to Des Moines, I used to try to stay at the historic Hotel Fort Des Moines (a gorgeous structure), but I read it’s currently under renovation.

As for the car, it was actually parked in the gas station parking lot. I had deliberately composed my images to try to remove traces of “modern day” – and I guess that, save for the full-profile shot, I must have succeeded. 🙂

My Mom & Dad loved to travel (they still do), and my sister and I spent many a summer in the back of the car sightseeing, car and sign spotting, and praying that Dad would spring for the Holiday Inn so we could enjoy the pool (it seemed ALL Holiday Inns had a pool). More often than not however, it would be a TraveLodge or somewhere else much less expensive, like some of the smaller Non-Chain Motels along the way. They still prefer the less expensive places (although they gotta be comfortable) like the Microtel and such when taking a road trip; however now that they are retired and can live a little larger, B&B’s and such are more on their radar now.

As to Holiday Inn’s famous sign… Yeah, that was always my favorite. I remember one of the few times we stayed there, collecting packs of matches or brochures with that sign on them I liked it so much. I had built a balsa wood building for my train layout that was to be a 5 story hotel, and re-created that sign using either the match-packs or brochures.

That, That, is the ultimate Mark V. Sure the Mark V was big, but at least it made you look like a rich guy, to everyone’s envy. I remember a road test of the Mark VI, where they stated that the image of the Mark V driver could be that of an elegant Rogue, while the Mark VI was probably driven by a successful accountant.

I just remembered the only night I’ve ever stayed at a Holiday Inn, ArBee’s experience brought it back to me.

One of my mother’s uncles was a “high-priced” corporation lawyer in NYC. His sister was a miserly/frugal spinster. The 2 of them were driving cross country from Tucson to NYC and decided to stop and visit me in Memphis where I was attending a technical school in the Navy. They arrived just before dinner time and decided after eating to spend the night. Foolish me, I thought the “no-name”, non chain motels clustered near the Navy base weren’t good enough for them, so I took them down the road to the nearest Holiday Inn. Being after sunset, and not knowing the city all that well, I didn’t realize I had taken them to a motel in THE worst part of town. After all, Holiday Inn was headquartered in Memphis, if there would be any bad motels in the chain, surely they wouldn’t be in Memphis? Well, I was hugely mistaken. Some of the furniture in the rooms was broken, a mirror over the dresser was cracked, the bathrooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in weeks…. In short, it was probably about 1 step above the motel pictured here.
BTW, when I was transferred back to Memphis 15 years later, the property that Holiday Inn had been on was now a junkyard.

You are quite right about the big chain hotels being variable back then. In 1981, our family took the fanciest vacation we ever had – financed by my grandfather. We FLEW to Los Angeles, and spent a week or so in the area.

Our initial hotel was a Howard Johnson’s, maybe in West Covina or Anaheim. It was a dump, and the neighborhood was awful. While my grandfather was footing the bill, my ever-frugal parents initially tried to shrug it off. After the first night, even they could not stand it and we relocated, probably to a Holiday Inn recommended by our local relatives.

Interestingly, I traveled with my father on business to small town Nebraska a couple of summers in the 1970s. Frequently, the only place to stay any amount of money could buy was a locally owned family run motel. A lot of those motels were really nice, very clean, had cheerful outdoor pool areas, and maybe a decent on-site coffee shop

Nice trip down memory lane. My parents frequently solved the affordability problem of a Holiday Inn with a Coleman tent. Maybe that was the trade-off for being in an Impala or LTD vs. a Volare!

Eventually, we had a pop-up Jayco trailer tent camper, and you are right about wondering about the lives of the people in the other vehicles – the ’72 Lincoln Continental sedan, rear end squatting, bristling with clamp on fender mirrors and CB aerial, pulling the Airstream trailer, gliding past us; why couldn’t I be in THAT car?!

The Mark V was so well proportioned that, using all of the same styling ques on the Mark VI (gills, opera window, tire hump, half vinyl roof, etc.) made it look like a fetal Mark V at seven months! I always thought that the contemporary Eldorado was better proportioned and would have made a better Mark VI.

William Clay Ford had a special Mark VI, with no vinyl roof or opera windows, all done in Honolulu Blue, it looked really great. There were just too many styling “interruptions” for the new size.

This is my favorite car.
I hope one day to be able to own one. Even if it’s not practical to own due to it’s size, I could just park it, pull up a lawn chair and stare at it all day.
There were no apologies or short cuts when it was designed. It’s loud, confident and beautiful at the same time.

Up to the age of 13 we would make a yearly 700 mile pilgrimage to my grandmother in a crazy collection of cars; a family plus dog, and luggage fror two weeks, in an Austin A40 Farina anyone? I remember my dad freaking out when after much dithering at the time of departure my mother finally emerged from the house with a pressure cooker saying ‘we might need it’. My dad always bought cars that were on their last gasp, and if they werent, we were adept at getting them there pretty quickly.. One year the headlights on our Humber Hawk failed after dark and we kept on driving! We just tailed someone.
In the time before freeways this was a one and a half day journey, so a stop over was mandatory. The motels we stayed at were invariably right on the national road and reading this post has reminded me of how exciting it was to go to sleep listening to the sounds of cars rushing past at high speed, something I loved and never had at home. Joseph, thanks for bringing back these memories with a beautifully written post! ..and the car and the pictures are magnificent!

Another great post, Joe! I love this Lincoln, and the abandoned motel is so cool to see up close. I’m guessing this is the same motel, visible from I-65 between Chicago and Indianapolis, where I’ve always wanted to stop and get a better look (Common Sense George has always gotten the better of me, so I’ve never stopped–now I can live vicariously through your pictures!).

Holiday Inns bring back great memories for me–they were huge in the South when I was growing up, and the classic sign was such a awesome piece of roadside Americana.

If the hotel in the pictures is the same one I see driving down I-65 from the Chicago suburbs to my new home of Zionsville, IN, you do NOT want to do what Joe did and stop to take pictures! The intervening five years have turned the hotel into a dump covered with the same kind of gang graffiti I used to see spray painted over buildings near the train lines into Chicago. And the building is collapsing to boot.

This motel got my curiosity going, and I found a couple of videos featuring the ruins on YouTube. This first one, from June 2013, goes inside and shows the rooms, still furnished (!!), but badly damaged and deteriorating: https://youtu.be/nGyeOGlXMig

This second video, shot in October 2016, shows how harsh the intervening years have been–the place is in even worse shape and covered with graffiti: https://youtu.be/UEuT0iDr2qM

Mmack, you are right, now the place looks really unsafe. My guess is that it will be torn down soon.

Wow, with this more detailed location info, I now know that I attended a wedding reception for a distant cousin there around 1989 or 90. Yikes, I had not paid attention, as it is not an area that I usually get to.

Ten years ago, my parents and I took a trip to Ohio for a family wedding. We rented a late-model Pontiac Grand Prix – a car we all really liked.

Anyway, since I had business associates not too far away from where we were, in Columbus, I decided to combine this into a pleasure / business trip. My parents wanted to see Columbus, so using our corporate travel system (and with approval), I was able to book us a big room in a really nice, chain hotel downtown that was geared toward business travel.

Irony department: My frugal parents couldn’t stop raving about how fancy the hotel was, saying “Wow!”, and re-asking me if it was okay that they were here with me. I thought it was charming. Just to keep things low-key, and because we all felt like it, we all went to White Castle for burgers and fries at the end of the day.

During that trip, I never once referenced the “Lucky Motel 7” they made us stay at with fungus floating in the pool (where we couldn’t swim), or the Sunset Motel where there was a very loud domestic dispute happening just two doors down from us. Because I love them.

Like Billy Joel sang “Your best bet’s a true baby blue Continental”. Great pictures and a great write up about seeing the USA in your Chevrolet. Or Buick, like my parents and I did. And my mother ALWAYS booked us in a Holiday Inn when we travelled. I lucked out; my siblings were grown and starting their lives (college, work, family) when my parents hit the open road with me so I got the back seat of our 1978 Le Sabre Custom to myself. If the hotel is the same one I’m thinking of the next big storm that rolls through will collapse it.

The feature and comments above are reminding me of the travels we made as a family in the sixties in our 62 Mercury Comet. We slept in motels along the way. Some charming, some tired and clearly from an era before I was born.

My parents always had to check out at least a couple of motel rooms before deciding which one was best for the night. Price was a big issue. No way we would ever stay at a Holiday Inn.

As I was growing up, we took a lot of road trips in the 50s and 60s and always stayed in lower cost motels, “cabins,” fishing lodges, etc. However, the steel plant where my Dad worked finally unionized in the mid-60’s (the great United Steelworkers of America) and wages for employees like him went up substantially (as did benefits and safety regulations, most important in the days well before OSHA). He also invented a processing device used in small steel foundries that he was able to market and use to bring in a little additional income.

We made our first “business” trip during this time – to Dayton, Ohio to sign a contract to sell some of these devices. I remember it so well because – in reflection of the increase in our household income – for the first time ever we stayed at Holiday Inn, luxuriated in the A/C and pool, and enjoyed the RCA New Vista color TV (one of those appeared in our house shortly thereafter). In those days Holiday Inn had a pretty good reputation for a consistent level of appointments and service – that was the basis of success for the chain: when you saw that sign, you knew what to expect.

And those higher union wages culminated in Dad’s purchase of a new Mark V in 1978, shortly before the Rust Belt economy set in throughout the Midwest in the next decade and damaged the American Dream to the extent that is has not recovered. So for me Holiday Inn and those Lincolns are linked to the upward mobility of American workers that characterized the first decades of my life – good times. Joseph, thanks for the memories.

Not to take away from the Continental in any way, but I find the old hotel (and other abandoned buildings) strangely intriguing. Sort of sad and eerie at the same time. Looking at this one on GoogleEarth’s “street view” only reinforced that feeling. Reminds me of some of the buildings in Pripyat that were abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster.

Given that we’re discussing the decline of a certain way of life in the US, and Joseph has written so evocatively of the decline in urban areas in the country, I want to recommend a book I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed:

Beer Money: A Memoir of Privilege and Loss by Frances Stroh. An heir of Stroh Brewing Company and a witness to the decline and demise of everything her family had through company mismanagement, alcoholism, drug addiction, and profligate spending, Frances Stroh has written a brilliant account. And she parallels the decline of the family and their business with the decline of Detroit. Could not put it down until finished.

Joseph, thank you for this which brings up many memories for me too, even if our road trips were shorter and did not usually involve staying at a hotel other than where this was in fact our destination on a holiday – Israel is too small to have anything like the US’ Holiday Inn network. The only exception was on an epic trip to the Sinai peninsula in 1968, not long after the Six Day War, when we stayed at a motel near the oilfields in Abu Rodes. Given that it was used by truck drivers, oilfield engineers and the like it had none of the charm of your Holiday Inns!

Lincoln Mark Vs I’m afraid leave me cold. The best of that ilk was the first, 1968 model. All the later cars had too much front overhang and sharp angles, as well as no performance whatever. The Mark VII set things right but then came the Mark VIII which looks seemed to draw on some marine form of life for inspiration…

I’m different. I’ve said it before, but the only Mark’s I find even remotely desirable and attractive are the III and IV. I detest the Mark V. Don’t have a rational explanation for it, but I just don’t like them. They do nothing for me.

I think the Mark Series of the 1970’s is very stately looking and I would not mind owing one.

I have to drive through this neighborhood to get to work each day. In front of one of the houses is that Attractive 1970’s Mark Series. It is a semi daily driver and shares room with a late model Mercury GM.